**Sep 8, 4:17pm EST – New Resources, Evolve Phase Ending – I am posting the current version below for the end of the Evolve phase (in a few hours), although you may find it easier to read in the main Google Doc. Following advice of coaches, I'm trimming the team a little, leaving people who made specific comments (over time) that helped evolve the idea. And finally, I want to point everyone to a few important resources that could be missed among all the other links:

SUMMARY OF THIS IDEA: Create a new routine for substitution plans – when a teacher is absent, students participate in 20% time, by pursuing a project of their own design.

Potential For Impact:

Unexpected absences of teachers occur in every school on a regular basis.

Unexpected absences “disrupt” the normal schedule of instruction.

Substitute plans are often ineffective; teachers rely upon outdated “drill-and-kill” activities that do little to increase (and can even harm) student motivation.

Collectively, teacher absences across departments/disciplines/courses add up to a lot of time – time that could be recovered for long-term inquiry into a student’s own passion project.

As culture shifts, this general concept can be adapted to a school’s preferred philosophy or toolset for fostering innovation. Design thinking, constructionism, 20% time, genius hour, tinkering, project-based-learning – all of these could find a home in this new routine for sub plans.

Value Proposition / Pitch:

Teachers: Tired of scrambling to find a substitute plan at the last second, after you realize you’ll be late or otherwise unable to show up to work? Looking for some help introducing “serious play” into your students’ lives, and giving them "freedom to fail"? Need to find time and support for creating low-pressure learning opportunities?

Principals: Frustrated by lost instructional time that results from unexpected absences? Tired of hearing that students merely watched a movie when the teacher wasn’t there? Looking for ways to foster 21st century learning experiences, incrementally, without giving your faculty whiplash? Having trouble seeing how the creative arts and humanities can be unified with science, technology, engineering? Concerned that you might invest resources into a makerspace, but have trouble finding time for students to actually use the space on a regular basis? Wishing you could induct new hires by starting them with student-centered learning experiences?

Guardians/Parents: Concerned that the curriculum does not provide room for innovation or entrepreneurship? Worried about where your kids can find freedom (and have fun) within a testing-dominated educational landscape?

Students: Wish you had more control over what you learned at school? Wish you had more freedom during the school day – a little more space to be yourself? Want to avoid the boring, tedious, or irrelevant sub plans that you face whenever a teacher is absent?

How would I get this idea off the ground?

Build upon the excitement that most students experience when discovering that their teacher (even a beloved teacher) is absent.

Share rationale with faculty for fostering a culture of innovation, from a variety of entrypoints (research into motivation theory, psychology of play, changes in society/industry, case studies, etc.).

Host an event for parents/guardians to try “serious play” (possibly alongside children) and give them a voice in this initiative.

Define what 21st century learning looks like in your school community.

How you can get started:

Start small with a new kind of “emergency” sub plan. Design and implement one single sub plan that allows students to have a 20% Time experience, inside their usual classroom, the first time a teacher is absent. This sub plan should not be related to the current unit plan for the course. Design an experience that is low-budget and low-risk (think cardboard instead of concrete). Afterward, solicit feedback on the experience from the students and the substitute.

Introduce the new routine with students, before any teacher absences occur, and allow students to have a voice in the plan for their class.

This guide will help the substitute navigate this new learning environment. Some of the norms should be created by the students, during the initial project “launch.” Some classroom spaces will need their own norms as well (e.g. using materials in the art room or science lab).

Maybe one day, the teacher will be “absent” every day – because we will have successfully established a culture where we are all co-learners and innovators.

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**Aug 30, 1:13am EST – Update: VERSION 4 – VERSION 4 of the idea is now at the top of the main Google Doc. This draft reflects how the idea has evolved through recent discussion, and also builds out some of the resources that we will probably eventually provide. (I will try to copy and paste this version in here later, but links don't copy easily so it's staying there for now.)

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**Aug 28 – Prototype Session – With a group of 4th-graders, Jessica Lura tested her prototype for introducing the project, which included 30 circles, a slide deck, and a planning template for the students to complete. Check out all the links at the top of this document. She gathered quick feedback from the students, shared examples of what they did during the lesson, and has provided a wealth of notes about the lesson plan (solid gold insights!) You can comment in these documents.

**Aug 27, 4:39pm EST – Student Prototyping Session – Yesterday I used this slideshow to introduce our idea to a group of high school students (mostly 11th grade), who produced some quick prototypes of what might happen if Ss given time this way. (They came early/stayed late on their orientation/book day, since school isn't in session yet, so I was super grateful to them. Names removed.) Because we were prototyping an experience, I gave them a blank storyboard, along with pages 58-59 of the Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit. And just for fun, some did the 30 Circles activity contributed here by Moss Pike.

After the Google Hangout yesterday (improvised!) and the Twitter chat Tuesday (Storify courtesy of Moss Pike), I am converging on an idea for a resource (grateful also to Nick Giacobbe and his learning community) that we can prototype, which would really help people launch this project. Essentially it's like a pre-loaded process journal shared via Google slides. More on that later (tonight I hope?). My big focus now is on creating a MVP ("minimum viable product," low-budget high-value) version that can adapt into a wide variety of schools.

**Aug 24, late EST – Jessica Lura produced a rapid prototype of a possible template for implementing the idea. Want to add more later to this myself. Her prototype really helped me think about the logistical issues involved and support teachers will need to take the plunge into an idea like this.

**Aug 23, 5:35pm EST – I have summarized much of the feedback so far (with links), at the top of the Google doc. This feedback has really helped refine the idea, so thank you to everyone who helped! Please let me know if I missed anything. Will try to write a new version sometime this week.

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**Aug 22, 6:55am EST – Super excited that this idea moved into the Evolve phase! And thanks for all the comments here and in the Google doc!

We've got more to do. To really make an impact, we need to focus on the idea's scalability, feasability and adaptability. Please envision how this might work in your school. We need to start prototyping for fit in variety of situations – different funding, existing culture of innovation, schedule of classes, etc. I plan to do some in-person sessions next week, and include some students in the process. Thanks for helping!

(NOTE: The Google Doc is easier to read. All links are to Teachers Guild posts.)

OVERVIEW: Create a new routine for substitution plans – when a teacher is absent, students report to a makerspace and/or participate in genius hour. The students pursue a project of their own design, possibly long-term.

Potential For Impact:

Unexpected absences of the teacher occur in every school on a regular basis.

Substitute plans are often ineffective; teachers rely upon outdated “kill-and-drill” activities that do little to increase (and can even harm) student motivation.

Collectively, teacher absences across departments/disciplines/courses add up to a lot of time – time that could be recovered for long-term inquiry into a student’s own passion project.

The general concept can be adapted to a school’s preferred philosophy or toolset for fostering innovation. Design thinking, constructionism, 20% time, genius hour, tinkering, PBL – all of these could find a home in this new routine for sub plans.

Value Proposition / Pitch:

Teachers: Tired of scrambling to find a substitute plan at the last second, after you realize you’ll be late or otherwise unable to show up to work? Looking for some help introducing “serious play” into your students’ lives, and giving them "freedom to fail"? Need some administrative, material, or curriculum support for creating low-pressure learning opportunities?

Principals: Frustrated by lost instructional time, resulting from unexpected absences? Tired of hearing that students just watched a movie, when the teacher wasn’t there? Looking for ways to foster 21st century learning experiences, incrementally, without giving your faculty whiplash? Having trouble seeing how the creative arts and humanities can be unified with science, technology, engineering? Concerned that you might invest resources into a makerspace, but have trouble finding time for students to actually use the space on a regular basis? Want a way to induct new hires by starting them with student-centered learning experiences?

Guardians/Parents: Concerned that the curriculum does not provide room for innovation or entrepreneurship? Worried about where your kids can find freedom (and have fun) within a testing-dominated educational landscape?

How would I get this idea off the ground?

Build upon the joy that most students experience when discovering that their teacher (even a beloved teacher) is absent.

Share rationale with faculty for fostering a culture of innovation, from a variety of entrypoints (research into motivation theory, changes in society/industry, case studies, etc.).

Host an event for parents/guardians to try “serious play” (possibly alongside children) and give them a voice in this initiative.

Define what 21st century learning looks like in your school community.

How you can get started:

Start small with a new kind of “emergency” sub plan. Design and implement one single sub plan that allows students to have a genius hour experience, inside their usual classroom, the first time a teacher is absent. (Better yet, find a place where students can travel for that period. Doesn’t have to be fancy.) This sub plan should not be related to the current unit plan for the course. Design an experience that is low-budget and low-risk (think cardboard instead of concrete). Afterward, solicit feedback on the experience from the students and the substitute.

What if every time a teacher was absent from class, the students experienced genius hour?

I stumbled into this idea with a colleague, on our drive back from ISTE 2015. We were exploring ways to expand our program of instructional rounds, in which teacher teams observe class in groups. Increasing the number of observations would put a big strain on the schedule, especially with all that missed "instructional time." (Teachers and administrators already have enough difficulties designing meaningful learning experiences for those times when they don't expect to be absent... so we don't want to add to that.)

At the same time, we are looking for ways to introduce "serious play" into the school day, make space for innovation, practice design thinking... Could a fully dedicated makerspace be part of our solution? (Imagine the substitute telling you: "Your teacher is absent, please report to the makerspace.)

This idea is rough, new, and I think could really benefit from some feedback – please help!

Would students work on an extended project over time? If they are new to genius hour, what scaffolding might they need, if any? What are the benefits of traveling to a new location, instead of staying in the classroom? Should there be a dedicated "substitute" who is always on call in the new space?

Version 1.0: I'll add inspirations later – didn't want to wait any longer to share the idea.

"Prototyped important resources, including how to introduce the idea to students. Tested prototypes with a class of students. Gave useful, timely feedback throughout entire evolve phase. Generated essential ideas for making the idea adaptable, scalable, and feasible."